Transitioning Your Child's Hair from Relaxed to Natural

By DiscoveringNatural


So, your child's hair is currently texturized or relaxed and you are wondering how do you stop putting chemicals in your child's hair and make their hair completely natural.

First thing, know that you are not alone.

Let me share a little bit about myself and my older daughter, known as Big Sis on our YouTube channel, DiscoveringNatural.

When Big Sis was 4 years old, I got to a point of frustration with her natural hair. At that time, I was blind to the beauty of natural hair. Maybe I was sleep deprived due to having a newborn, Lil Sis, or maybe it was the pain I felt when I saw her cry when I did her hair. I decided to listen to "friends" who advised me that the best thing to do was to texturize her hair. It will make her hair easier to manage. Everyone is doing it. They said. And, without doing my research, I listened and went ahead.

Her hair was pretty... at first...

Cornrow out (1 month texturized hair (4 years old Big Sis))

Then after the first year of regular texturizing, her hair started breaking. By the time, it was 2 years post, her hair was no longer full and healthy, it was breaking and did not look great. I knew I had to do something... that started our transitioning journey.

Transitioning Your Child's hair is DIFFERENT from Transitioning your Hair

Why?

When you transition a child's hair, you do not want to wear styles that are manipulated daily. You want to keep the process as simple as possible. Try styling your child's hair with a style that can last 2 weeks. Styles such as threading, cornrows, flat twists, twists, will help camouflage the relaxed ends and help with growth because the hair is not being manipulated.

Big Sis - months after starting transitioning

Moisture is KEY!

Yes! Yes! Do not slack on moisturizing your child's hair. Keeping the hair moisturized will keep it from breaking. Whenever you wash her hair, make sure that you do a deep conditioning treatment to help restore moisture and keep the hair healthy.


Big Chop ONLY when your child is ready

Doing a transitioning big chop can be a big step. Make sure that your child is ready for this change. Something that helped me was doing regular trims of the relaxed ends while transitioning. This will reduce the shock factor.

The Hair will Grow Back

Remember, hair always grows back. Practice healthy hair choices and make sure that the ends are taken care of in order to retain length. Stay encouraged because when you are positive, your child will feel the same way.

Do you have a child that is currently relaxed and you would love to transition her? What are your struggles?